Psalm 39
The Vanity of Life.
For the choir director, for Jeduthun.
A Psalm of David.
1 I said, "I will guard my ways
That I may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle
While the wicked are in my presence."
2 I was mute and silent,
I refrained even from good,
And my sorrow grew worse.
3 My heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 "LORD, make me to know my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how transient I am.
5 "Behold, You have made my days as
handbreadths,
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man at his best is a mere
breath. Selah.
6 "Surely every man walks about as a
phantom;
Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
He amasses riches and does not know
who will gather them.
7 "And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in You.
8 "Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 "I have become mute, I do not open my
mouth,
Because it is You who have done it.
10 "Remove Your plague from me;
Because of the opposition of Your hand I
am perishing.
11 "With reproofs You chasten a man for
iniquity;
You consume as a moth what is precious
to him;
Surely every man is a mere breath. Selah.
12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear
to my cry;
Do not be silent at my tears;
For I am a stranger with You,
A sojourner like all my fathers.
13 "Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may
smile again
Before I depart and am no more."
Psalm 40
God Sustains His Servant.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up out of the pit of
destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my
footsteps firm.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song
of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the LORD.
4 How blessed is the man who has made
the LORD his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to
those who lapse into falsehood.
5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders
which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.
6 Sacrifice and meal offering You have not
desired;
My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have
not required.
7 Then I said, "Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart."
9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteous-
ness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips,
O LORD, You know.
10 I have not hidden Your righteousness
within my heart;
I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your
salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness
and Your truth from the great congregation.
11 You, O LORD, will not withhold Your
compassion from me;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will
continually preserve me.
12 For evils beyond number have sur-
rounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I
am not able to see;
They are more numerous than the hairs of
my head,
And my heart has failed me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
Make haste, O LORD, to help me.
14 Let those be ashamed and humiliated
together
Who seek my life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight in my hurt.
15 Let those be appalled because of their
shame
Who say to me, "Aha, aha!"
16 Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad
in You;
Let those who love Your salvation say con-
tinually,
"The LORD be magnified!"
17 Since I am afflicted and needy,
Let the Lord be mindful of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
Psalm 41
The Psalmist in Sickness Complains
of Enemies and False Friends.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
1 How blessed is he who considers the
helpless;
The LORD will deliver him in a day of
trouble.
2 The LORD will protect him and keep
him alive,
And he shall be called blessed upon
the earth;
And do not give him over to the desire
of his enemies.
3 The LORD will sustain him upon his
sickbed;
In his illness, You restore him to health.
4 As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious
to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You."
5 My enemies speak evil against me,
"When will he die, and his name perish?"
6 And when he comes to see me, he speaks
falsehood;
His heart gathers wickedness to itself;
When he goes outside, he tells it.
7 All who hate me whisper together
against me;
Against me they devise my hurt, saying,
8 "A wicked thing is poured out upon him,
That when he lies down, he will not rise up
again."
9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But You, O LORD, be gracious to me and
raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that You are pleased with me,
Because my enemy does not shout in triumph
over me.
12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And You set me in Your presence forever.
13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.
BOOK2
Psalm 42
Thirsting for God in Trouble and Exile.
For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, "Where is
your God?"
4 These things I remember and I pour out my
soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng and
lead them in procession to the house of
God,
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a
multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within
me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
6 O my God, my soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of
the Jordan
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your
waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled
over me.
8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness
in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my rock, "Why have You
forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the
oppression of the enemy?"
10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries
revile me,
While they say to me all day long, "Where is
your God?"
11 Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within
me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
Psalm 43
Prayer for Deliverance.
1 Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case
against an ungodly nation;
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust
man!
2 For You are the God of my strength; why
have You rejected me?
Why do I go mourning because of the
oppression of the enemy?
3 O send out Your light and Your truth, let
them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God,
my God.
5 Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.